Through My Eyes
by ChaoticSabre
Summary: What goes on onboard Serenity through River's eyes.
1. The Beast

**The Beast**

A beast. Somewhere on the ship, there was a beast. River could hear it clearly, even as she slept. A loud roar from the beast awoke her fully and she bolted upright.

It was back to merely growling loudly now. But it was close by. In fact...

"Simon!"

River darted across the hall to her brother's sleeping quarters. That was where the beast was hiding currently, she realized. When she reached her brother's door, her eyes scanned the room for any beastly figures. There was no one here except for her... and a snoring Simon.

Of course. She should have known it was Simon. Why hadn't she realized it before? The fact that the beast had only growled on his inward breath, the fact that despite everyone's talk of martians and reavers, River knew there were no other lifeforms here in this 'verse. No. Humans were alone here. They may think they owned everything there was, but River knew otherwise. Humans were like caged animals. They were like the small fish Simon had let her keep who was swimming idly in its little bowl.

But unlike humans, the fish knew. He knew there was more than his little aquatic world. In a way, he was like River. And River was like a fish. But River was truly a thing, not a person.

"A natural stream of water larger than a creek and emptying into an ocean, a lake or another river."

"Huh? Wha- River? Is that you?"

River blinked. The beast had awoken and Simon's mind, unsure and confused like usual, flickered to life.

"I am the one known as River, yes."

"You're what? Mei-mei, were you having bad dreams again?"

Was she? Perhaps all of this had just been a dream. What if she were merely someone's dream. There was no proof any of this was really real.

"No," she replied quickly. "There was a beast in your room, but then you woke up and now it's gone. Goodnight, Simon."

With that, River made her way back across the hall to her own room. She smiled to her fish and then lay down. Nestling beneath the blankets, she drifted off to sleep easily without the beast growling nearby.


	2. Any Better?

**Any Better?**

"I'm not sure. She seems to be getting better one day - no outbursts or sudden mood changes, no dreams-"

"No swearing loudly and throwing things?" Mal asked with a half amused look on his face, remembering how bad River had been a few months back while they'd had a herd of cattle on board.

"No… No swearing loudly and throwing things… So I start to believe she's getting better, but then she has these moments where it doesn't seem she notices where she is, who she's talking, who she is…"

"What do you mean, Doc?"

"Well, take last night for example. I woke up to her talking to herself beside my bed. She said she hadn't had any dreams but that there had been a beast in my room. Then she went back to bed."

"She certainly is an odd one."

"She ain't just odd, Cap'n. That girl's ruttin' crazy!" Jayne interrupted with a grunt as he entered the med lab.

"Ah…" Simon quickly blocked Jayne from entering further, "Here, let me help you. What is it you need?" Ever since the job in "Mudville", Simon was wary about letting Jayne into the lab unless he was injured.

Jayne opened his mouth to say something, but considered the look the captain was giving him and grunted as if to say 'fine'.

"Just a coupl'a them pills fer gettin' rid o' the pain. My leg's botherin' me again."

"Do you want me to-"

"No. Just some o' them pills'll be fine, Doc."

"Alright… Tell me if you ever want me to look at it."

Jayne grunted again, taking the pills Simon offered and then left. Mal chuckled, quietly shaking his head.

"What's so funny?" Simon asked warily.

"Nothin'. So, where were we? You said she was talkin' about some beast last night…"

"Yeah." Simon's voice trailed off as he began to organize his medical tools. Mal noticed this, sensing that something about this subject made the doctor uneasy. Whenever he was uneasy, he tended to need to be doing something.

"So, all in all, you think she's gettin' any better?"

"I suppose…"

Simone was reluctant to answer now and Mal silently wondered what was going through the young medical genius' mind.

"Well, you keep workin' I guess… I'm gonna go do, y'know.. Captain-y things…"

"Yes. Alright."

"Dinner's at 6 and as usual, no need to dress."


End file.
